An origami-like workspace, meeting room and guest house

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Innovative in design and construction, this Nelson studio has a floor area of just 97m2 while managing to be a multi-functional workspace, meeting room, guesthouse and executive retreat

Torea Studio, Nelson

Architects: Tennent Brown ArchitectsFloor area: 97m2

It is not technically a home but it sometimes functions as one. In fact, this 97-square-metre, three-bedroom building near Nelson by Hugh Tennent and Brenda Solon of Tennent Brown Architects, is deliberately multi-functional: it’s a workspace, a meeting room, a guesthouse, an executive retreat. Its owners (who first commissioned Tennent to design their neighbouring family home, a finalist in our Home of the Year 2013) live and work on the property, and this time asked for a separate space from which they could run their businesses, meet colleagues and business partners, and host family and friends.

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The owners of this multi-functional building challenged architect Hugh Tennent to create an adventurous design and readily greenlit his sculptural response.

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Tennent was partly inspired by the work of Brazilian artist Lygia Clark, particularly her multi-functional interactive pieces.

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The building serves as a retreat for guests, as well as a work space and meeting room. Its tent-flap-style cut-outs reveal slices of view.

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Innovative in design and construction, the building is made with prefabricated, computer-cut timber panels and clad in zinc.

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“It was a delightful project,” Tennent says. “It has been fun to have such pure object-making in that landscape. Smallness allowed us to do that.”

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The living area opens onto a terrace that was carefully designed with the assistance of Wraight and Associates, where trees will eventually provide shade from the summer sun.

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The building surprises with exquisite details, such as minimalist wall and ceiling cut-outs that reveal dramatic shafts of light.

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Tennent describes the project as delightful; its size allowing him to create “pure object-making in that landscape”. The sculptural light screen dividing the office and meeting spaces was designed by the client and Angus Muir, and has programmable coloured LED tubes.

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Cut-outs create form and light in bathroom.

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Circulation spaces, including the entrance, have been deliberately reduced.

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Inside, there is a single space that looks out towards the estuary. It combines a kitchen, dining and meeting area.

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Exposed cross-laminated timber panels are a feature throughout, including the three compact bedrooms.